The house he bought had once been the home of Allentown businessman and benefactor Gen. Harry C. Trexler. Many Allentonians regarded the house as a local landmark.

Following Trexler's death in 1933, and until Witthaut's purchase, the building was the offices of the charitable foundation established by Trexler's will.

Controversy erupted when the public learned that the house was planned for demolition, and Witthaut took another look at its oak and teak woodwork, its leaded glass windows, its glazed-tile fireplaces.

"It began to grow on me." Witthaut affirms.

Witthaut's enterprise, Marilyn Custom Shop, will be the centerpiece of Old Allentown Preservation Association's 21st annual house tour 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. next Sunday.

Visitors will see the splendid restoration of the mansion's first floor public rooms as well as the 1993 period addition by Allentown architect Benjamin L. Walbert III that allowed the building to be used as a store.

Local actor George Miller, director of center-city's Theater Outlet, will don vintage clothes and reprise his oft-repeated role as Gen. Trexler, greeting visitors to the house.

Witthaut, along with wife Renee and daughter Nan, will be on hand to answer questions and serve light refreshments.

This is the first time the Trexler House has been on the house tour. Although the address is technically a few steps outside the Old Allentown historic district, tour planners were eager to include the property because it shows how careful planning can give unimagined possibilities to old buildings.

Old Allentown native Sadie Weiss, organist at the church, will play Victorian gospel music at the first concert. Local organist John Goodman will follow with a Victorian Interlude, and Tom Yenser, director of music at Allentown's Nativity Lutheran Church, will play classical music at the final performance.

Another performance will be presented at the corner of 10th and Chestnut streets, where a troupe from Theater Outlet will preview the Lehigh County Historical Society's Halloween-season "Apparitions of Allentown" tour. Actors will tell the story of a grisly murder that took place right there at the Old Allentown Cemetery.

Nine homes are on the tour this year. In addition, tour participants may visit the Allentown Preservation League's salvage warehouse, a place usually open only by appointment. Filled with rescued treasures from the region's discarded architecture, it is a place restorers can turn to to find a replacement for that missing window lintel or for an authentic vintage door.

Three properties are projects of Old Allentown Preservation Association's acquisition and rehabilitation program, which takes badly neglected homes and completely renovates them for resale.

One, at 1030 Chew St., stood vacant for several years before the association took it over. Fire had damaged a wooden addition to the rear that was unsalvageable. The association replaced it with a two-story addition that included a new kitchen and powder room. Asbestos siding was removed, the original brick facade was restored, and the house stands ready for new ownership.

Two others, adjoining properties at 339 and 341 N. 8th St., were rescued earlier this year with much financial assistance from the City of Allentown. Before the association's takeover, the structures were a single 11-unit apartment building that was one of the most problem-plagued addresses in the city.

The association gutted the interiors of the two properties and converted them to a single-family house at each address. The restoration of 341 has been taken over by new owners, Lisa Andrews and Jordan Hobart, while progress on 339 continues under the direction of the association next door.

Others opening their homes for the tour include:

* Jeanne Schemm, 1032 Linden St.:

The tidy Eastlake facade gives no hint of the architectural exuberance inside. When purchased by Schemm in the mid 1970s, a beauty parlor occupied the first floor and the original floor plan had been obliterated.

Schemm created an airy master suite on the third floor. A second-floor game room is accessible by a balcony over the dining room's cathedral ceiling. A large brick fireplace and tiled foyer give character to the first floor.